This is a great book for those interested in exploring the many and varied aspects and ramifications of Schenkerian theory. I first bought this book in its hardback-two-separate-volume edition in 1972 or 1973, when, as an undergraduate music student, I was looking for answers to how music "works." This was while studying at a university where the music theory department had been commandeered by a couple of "avant-gardiste" professors who, after eliminating all traditional harmony classes,further insisted that all students should compose, regardless of interest or ability, and that atonality, interminable dissonance, and "originality" for its own sake be the ideals which one should be forced to uphold. It was in this environment that I began my search for musical understanding, and started researching the theoretical, harmonic, contrapuntal, and formal aspects of music that were so sorely neglected in my university education. It was at this time that I became aware of the book "Structural Hearing." In fact, one friend of mine told me, that this was the best book on theory that he had ever read.
There are three things I would recommend to anyone interested in studying this book:
1. First, understand the basics of 4-part harmony, and become proficient at reading figured bass notation. This will help you understand the sections of the book that deal with what the author refers to as "chord grammar."
2. Second, get a copy of "The Study of Counterpoint," by J. J. Fux. This is the Norton edition of the translation of the famous "Gradus ad Parnassum." Work through the exercises in this book. In addition to being a lot of fun, these exercises will teach you a ton about the origins of harmony, voice leading, etc., and will provide some amazing practical solutions to problems you may encounter later, in composing original music, and/or arranging. I have always been happy for the work I did in this book. Trust me, you won't regret it!
3. Go to the nearest print shop that does book binding. They can split your book into two volumes, laminate the covers of them, and spiral bind each section. This will allow you to have the text and the examples side by side, and, as they are spiral bound, will allow you to lay them out flat. I do this with almost all of the scores, or music books with which I work. I recommend this to the reviewer above who expressed regret that the book was bound as a single volume, as well as all others who study this book.
I am delighted to get this book in the paperback edition, and I hope my recommendations are helpful.

Let me very briefly say that this book is not merely an elementary edition of Schenkerian theory; it is much more, and if you are especially working on your own, the examples, the perfect narrative (Like a friend talking to you, pointing at the music to illustrate his point. Really! It's only that you can't talk back to him.), the exercises, and the overall approach will help you greatly in solving many problems pertaining to tonal structure... (This is obviously an old book, and much of its methods are embraced by more recent works such as Kraft's GRADUS, but even so, get this book as a companion and guide to the others.)

one complaint: the binding lowers the production cost maybe, but it's such an inconvenience to turn the pages back and forth to 'look' at the music, and even more laborsome to place it on the piano. Please issue this in two pieces, I'll be willing to pay...extra [money]. Other humble recommendations with this book: Kraft's GRADUS, Westergaard's 'Introduction to Tonal Theory', Thakar's 'Counterpoint', and obviously the Schachter books.

This comment has more to do with the format of the Dover reprint than it does with the actual text. In the older edition of "Structural Hearing" the text was in volume one and the examples were in volume two. This allowed the reader to have the examples in front of them to refer to while they read the text. The Dover reprint is essentially both volumes bound into one book. This causes the book to be very cumbersome, although it probably significantly lowers the production cost. When I read "Structural Hearing" I finally had to check out volume two from the university library. I sincerely hope that the new Longman edition of "Der Frei Satz" maintains the original format.

I'm sure lots of people have been in this situation: you blitz through species counterpoint in your freshman year as a music major, only to realize its importance much later (i.e. after your extensive tour of the rest of music theory). Books like Salzer/Schachter's are a good way to go back and do it properly. This book is excellent and thorough, covering counterpoint not only as a theoretical grounding for later harmonic theory, but also examining its use in large-scale composition. The only problem with the book is the Salzer/Schachter's prose- it's like they're bringing down the counterpoint rules on tablets from the sacred mountain. Some procedures are flatly forbidden that more relaxed authors -- like Jeppesen -- excuse (in instances where fudging the rules produces a beautiful voice leading). In some cases, they flaty contradict other authors. Whereas Jeppesen cannot encourage voice-crossing enough, Salzer/Schachter list it as a mortal sin. Worse, Salzer/Schachter write their exercises for 'The Student', an individual of impossible concentration and diligence who can compose whole exercises in his/her head and would be ashamed to even touch a piano. In other words, their tone is not exactly encouraging- compared to 'The Student', your early efforts are bound to feel pretty clumsy (at least mine were). Still, this is a nice book with lots of good exercises and examples drawn from real music literature. Between Salzer/Schachter, Fux, and Jeppesen, it's more that possible to make a thorough review of counterpoint working by yourself.

The Salzer counterpoint book is a must for any serious musician. This book adresses counterpoint not as a theoretical abstraction but as a concrete musical experience. All too often counterpoint is reduced to meaningless exercises not connected with real world music. This book, which is fairly new, combines Fux's species counterpoint whith Schenkerian thought to create the most solid counterpoint book to date.